PHOENIX – The future of the World Baseball Classic will come in on a fluttering knuckleball Friday night.

It just might rest on a mammoth swing of the bat from a 23-year old at anytime during the event.

And it surely all depends on if the country with the best pool of baseball players in the world shows up to inspire its citizens actually to support it.

The 2013 World Baseball Classic already has started, and that might be surprising to stateside baseball fans because the games already played in Japan and Taiwan took place while most everyone in the United States was asleep. Just like this country’s fan base was during the first two tournaments in 2006 and 2009.

When Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig thought up this showcase, the idea was that, because the Olympics felt it necessary to do away with baseball in their event, the WBC would catch on worldwide the way soccer's World Cup has. That hasn’t even been close to the case during the first two tournaments. Too many players born in the United States would rather focus on Cactus and Grapefruit league games in March – as would fans – rthan what many see as a glorified exhibition played while they get ready for their real seasons.

The bottom line is America’s fans want a winner, and some Selig-invented trophy, or ring or plaque or whatever it is this tournament hands to the winner – not even Team USA’s opening-game starter R.A. Dickey knew the answer – isn’t going to create real passion. Neither is Team USA posting a .500 record (7-7) through the first two events.

“I think that winning it certainly has something to do with it,” Dickey said Thursday morning at Chase Field, site of Team USA’s first game against Mexico on Friday night. “If we are successful and win it, then I think you’re going to have more support.”

This version of Team USA was built to win. With Joe Torre as manager, the days of a marketable roster are gone. Torre selected his team with winning – not having as many star players as possible – in mind.

The star formula was tried in the past, most notably in 2009 when Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins were selected to be the shortstops. It was good for name recognition. It was awful for production.

So this year the roster has been panned for lacking star power, but guys like Shane Victorino, Willie Bloomquist and Ben Zobrist were picked with purpose.

Torre wanted one No. 1 guy at each position, not two stars with one sitting in the dugout waiting his turn to pinch hit or run. So instead of feeing the marketing beast, Torre understood the need for the United States to prove it is the best baseball-playing country on the planet.

A Dream Team won’t work in baseball because most position players are used to playing an entire game, not just three or four inning and then making way for some other elite-level player. This isn’t basketball, Torre reminds us.

While the benched superstars might look good on the roster, this team needs to look good on the diamond. And in this country, the only way that happens is if Team USA wins the whole thing.

So that leaves the United States with enough unrecognizable or uninspiring names on the docket to draw critics. But they are also the names Torre believes can give this country what it needs to become a real threat in this tournament.

Dickey’s knuckleball can baffle. Giancarlo Stanton, a 23-year old with staggering raw power, can drop jaws. Ryan Braun’s ability to put barrel to ball is as great as any American now playing. Gio Gonzalez finished two spots behind Dickey in last season’s Cy Young Award voting. Joe Mauer is among the best-hitting catchers ever. The star power still is there, and it’s enough that the United States can win the silver trophy (I had to look that up, for myself and Dickey).

But there is a roadblock right out of the gate. Game 1 should be a rout in Team USA’s favor if you just scan rosters. Torre's talent is superior to Mexico’s talent by a long shot, but that guarantees nothing beyond Mexico being an underdog Friday night in front of a possible 40,000 fans, a good chunk of whom will be flying the greed, red and white and not the red, white and blue.

Mexico pitches a major league All-Star in the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo, and if he is efficient, he certainly can shut down any lineup, including one full of fellow All-Stars. Mexico also has Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who can change the complexion of a game with one picturesque left-handed swing. Its bullpen features Sergio Romo, the guy who froze Miguel Cabrera to secure a World Series title last October.

Still, Team USA should win the game. It should win its pool. It should win in the second round and should win the WBC championship in San Francisco in a couple weeks.

And that still might not be enough because, quite simply, the WBC might never catch on in this country the way Selig hoped. But it’s difficult to know that for sure when the country that supposedly in the sport’s powerhouse hasn’t even played in a championship game yet.

If this new, less star-happy version can’t do so, then this tournament is all but dead on this land.